Joint Radar-Communication Systems: Modulation Schemes and System Design

The joint radar-communication (RadCom) concept has been continuously gaining interest due to the possibility of integrating radar sensing and communication functionalities in the same radio frequency hardware platform. Besides a number of challenges in terms of hardware design and signal processing, the choice of suitable modulation schemes plays a significant role in driving the performance of RadCom systems. In this sense, this article presents an overview of state-of-the-art modulation schemes for RadCom systems, namely, chirp sequence, phase-modulated continuous wave, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, and orthogonal chirp-division multiplexing. For each of them, a detailed system model is outlined, and parameters for quantifying both radar and communication performances are presented. Finally, a comparative analysis of the aforementioned RadCom modulation schemes is carried out to illustrate the presented discussion.